António Costa made the statement in a speech to the opening session of a conference on science and technology in Portugal in Lisbon where several dozen casual workers in the education sector protested by blowing up and letting the air out of balloons during the speeches.

Before leaving the venue, Costa exchanged a few words with one of the protestors and was handed a short manifesto by her.

"I will read it," promised Costa, who was accompanied by the minister of higher education and science, Manuel Heitor.

In his brief speech, of about 10 minutes, the prime minister referred to the reasons for the protest, acknowledging that the scope of the programme to bring casual workers onto the payroll, initiated during the current parliament, may have been insufficient.

"If there has been something that has clearly been clear throughout this legislature, it is that the extraordinary mechanisms of regularisation … have shown good results in general careers [but] have proved inadequate to resolve the situations of precariousness - which must be resolved – whether in teaching careers or in research careers,” he said. “Therefore, without wanting to pretend that I am a scientist, I think the experimental result is in sight and it is essential to find other mechanisms” than the current programme.

On this point, he said that it was "fundamental to create conditions of stability for those who need stability" in these scientific fields.

Throughout his speech, the prime minister argued that progress was possible in policy for science and research, saying it had been "proven that it was possible to do [things] differently" from in the past.

"It was very important to manage to stabilise the contracts, … to be able to resume the growth of investment in science and restore confidence and hope in the future, overcoming the goal of five thousand scientific contracts concluded over this parliament,” he said. “But it is necessary to be aware that there is work to pursue, because not everything has been done.”